"The meaningful life is about finding a deeper sense of fulfillment by using your strengths in the service of something larger than yourself and nourishing others," - Martin Seligman
There you have it. The meaning of life. Do you agree? Disagree?
How is life working for you so far?
Do you feel full? Do you have meaning? Do you have purpose?
Do you ever notice that when you find yourself doing things you loath, it's most likely a direct result of being bored, not having purpose or meaning.
For me personally, I feel most detached from society, isolated, and at my worse when I am focusing on myself and bored. How can we be bored in a world that's so full of options. It's crippling.
So many things to do, yet so many of the things we can take part of are all about ourselves.
Making a shift into realizing that we are apart of something larger is the foundation to meaning. Some may see this as fluff or religious but it is neither. Regardless of what you believe in, you can’t deny that we are all here and we are all human.
We are in a shared human experience. All equal. All in search of meaning.
How interesting? We are all searching for meaning, yet so few find it. Could it be because our pursuit for meaning is selfish? Could it be that we journey alone to find this meaning and the further we search alone, the further we detach from being apart of something larger.
If we are always looking for our meaning we will miss the chances to nourish others.
It’s a paradox. The meaning of life is deeply tied into others. What we are searching for ourselves can only be found when we are healing others and ourself. Taking care of, growing, living with others fills us up.
Material things do not give us meaning. They are good, but limited good, to paraphrase and quote the great author Foster.
We can achieve things, buy things, enjoy things, but at the end of the day they don't give us meaning. Why is this?
I think it's because material things do not define us at the end of the day. Our things, jobs, homes, accomplishments, and money do not define us. We are not these things at the end of the day. If we cut you open when you're dead, we will not find any of those things that supposedly made you, “you”. We will not find your humor or grief or your marriage or your anxiety. We will find a body, a physical thing that was once alive and now dead according to our standards.
We are more then all of that. We are beyond physical. We can not deny it. If you deny it, then you may struggle with finding meaning, because ......
to admit that we are more then physical will force you into seeing that we are all apart of a greater shared human experience.
And once you realize this then you begin to find meaning and you begin to see others as the key to your fulfillment. Your healing and wholeness will come from others. It will come from healing others and in return you get healing, you get meaning, and you get to smile as we spin around in space moving closer and closer to our own physical passing.
This week, go nourish people, help people, don't isolate yourself. You are not alone. You are only alone if you choose to be.
Peace
If you like this blog, please hit the like button, if you love it please share it.